Evaluation of a Live Production: The Deep Blu Sea

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Introduction

Evaluation: The Deep Blue Sea On the 25th May 2008, I went to see a production of The Deep Blue Sea. The play was written by Terence Rattigan and was held at the Vaudeville theatre in London. The play opens with the failed suicide of Hester Collyer. She has deserted her husband, a judge, for the raffish charms of a younger man, an ex pilot. Initial Impressions Before I saw The Deep Blue Sea, I did a small amount of background research to help me understand the story and find some reviews of the production. I found that the play had received rave reviews from theatre critics, with a few naming it 'one of the greatest plays of the 20th century'. With that description, obviously my expectations were very high. When I walked into the theatre I immediately felt out of place. The other audience members were all at least triple my age. I seemed to be the only young person amongst the audience. This told me straight away that the play was not intended for a young audience. What also struck me was how small the theatre itself was, much smaller than I had imagined. ...read more.

Middle

Examples of theses are: 'when you are between any kind of devil and the deep blue sea, the deep blue sea sometimes looks very inviting.' 'a great tidal wave of emotions' 'I'm drowning in my misery Bill' and '... sinking in this great ocean that is life.' These types of phrases are only delivered by the main character Hester. I really noticed this and I thought it was extremely effective, because it puts emphasis on the metaphor of the deep blue sea which represents Hester's loss of hope and her ever growing longing to commit suicide. It also emphasises the fact that Hester is the only one in this state of depression. Lighting The lighting in the piece was again naturalistic for the most part. Light and warm colours for the day time, dark and cold colours for the night. The lighting was supposed to be mainly unnoticeable, but used to make the scene much more realistic, For example. Light shining through the windows. When Hester was at the height of her depression (When Freddie leaves her after hearing the news of her suicide) the lighting changed to a deep blue. It also had a rippling effect. ...read more.

Conclusion

Once again this reinforces the metaphor of 'the deep blue sea'. In contrast, Mrs Elton wore very warm colours, (yellows, and oranges, peach) this suggested that her character was very warm, affectionate and loving. The production was ultimately very successful in my opinion. It achieved exactly what it set out to do, it had a great emotional impact on everyone in the audience and successfully told a wonderful story in a very simple way. I learned a lot from the production. I learned that I can successfully tell a story without making things too complicated for myself and sometimes thinking in a simple way can work very effectively and make a story more real and believable for the audience. I went in with high expectations and by the end of the show those expectations were not just fulfilled, but exceeded. The story was wonderful and incredibly gripping, and the cast was fantastic, well chosen and perfectly suited for their roles. So much show that each of them were an incredible inspiration to me, and have only made me more determined to pursue acting as a career. From start to finish, my attention was solely on the story in front of me. The Deep Blue Sea is a wonderful, moving piece of theatre that will stay with me for a long time. ...read more.

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